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Plaintiff Seeks $5 Million from LinkedIn Breach

(Ping! Zine Web Tech Magazine) – One online user didn’t take too kindly to LinkedIn’s recent woes regarding hackers’ infiltration of its network. According to a Reuters report on Thursday, a woman has filed lawsuit seeking up to $5 million dollars over what she alleged was the professional network site’s failure to provide proper security.

Earlier this month, millions of passwords in hash form were stolen from the site, leading LinkedIn to require password resets for affected user accounts.

The lawsuit could prove rather tricky and cashing in might not be so simple. In the same report, high-profile tech lawyer Iran Rothken, notable for his work on cases including MegaUpload emphasized it was an uphill battle. “In consumer security class actions, the demonstration of harm is very challenging,” Rothken stated, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn has emphasized any damage was minimal and defended itself against the lawsuit. “No member account has been breached as a result of the incident, and we have no reason to believe that any LinkedIn member has been injured,” commented LinkedIn representative Erin O’Harra in the same report. The breach was initially claimed by a hacker on a Russian forum, according to TheVerge. However, corresponding users names were not available via the leak.